he who cannot be withstood in contest! From thee have emanated all things; thou art of excellent deeds; thou art all that hath not been and all that hath been! Thou art pure knowledge; thou displayest to us, as the Sun by his rays, this animate and inanimate universe; darkening the splendour of the Sun at every moment, thou art the destroyer of all; thou art all that is perishable and all that is imperishable! O thou of the splendour of Agni, thou burnest all even as the Sun in his anger burneth all creatures! O thou terrible one, thou risest even as the fire at the final dissolution of the creation! Thou destroyest even him that destroyeth all at the revolution of the Yugas! Having reached thee, O mighty Gadura, who movest in the skies, we seek thy protection, O lord of birds, whose energy is great, whose splendour is that of fire, whose brightness is as that of lightning, whom no darkness can approach, who reachest the very clouds, who art both the cause and the effect, the dispenser of boons, and invincible in prowess! O Lord, this whole universe is rendered hot by thy splendour bright as the lustre of heated gold! Protect these high-souled gods, who, overcome by thee and terrified withal, are flying along the heavens in different directions on their celestial cars! O thou best of birds, thou lord of all, thou art the son of the merciful and high-souled Rishi Kasyapa; therefore, be not wroth but have mercy on the universe! Thou art supreme, O assuage thy anger, and preserve us! At thy voice, loud as the roar of thunder, the ten points, the skies, the heavens, this earth, and our hearts, O bird, are continuously trembling! O diminish this thy body resembling Agni! At the sight of thy splendour resembling that of Yama (the great destroyer) in wrath, our hearts losing all equanimity are quaking! O thou lord of birds, be propitious to us who solicit thee! O thou illustrious one, bestow on us good fortune and joy!'
"And that bird of fair feathers, thus adored by the deities and the tribes of the Rishis, diminished his own energy and splendour."
And thus ends the twenty-third Section in the Astika of the Adi Parva.
